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As Classic Novels Get Revised for Today's Readers, a Debate About Where to Draw the Line
经典小说为迎合现代读者而被修改，引发关于界限问题的争论
The estates of several revered literary figures are altering portions of well-known works to conform to current sensibilities, stirring a heated debate among readers and the literary world over whether, and how, classics should be updated.
几位备受尊敬的已故文学人物的文学遗产管理者正在对知名作品的部分内容做出改动，使之顺应当前人们的情感，这在读者和文学界引发了一场激烈争论，即经典作品是否应该更新以及如何更新。
In Agatha Christie's novels, terms like "Oriental," "Gypsy" and "native" have been taken out, and revised versions of Ian Fleming's "James Bond" books will be scrubbed of racist and sexist phrases.
在阿加莎·克里斯蒂的小说中，"东方""吉普赛人"和"土著人"等词语被删除，伊恩·弗莱明的"詹姆斯·邦德"系列小说的修订版将去掉有种族歧视和性别歧视的措辞。
Classics by Roald Dahl have been stripped of adjectives like "fat" and "ugly" along with references to characters' gender and skin color.
在罗尔德·达尔的经典作品中，"胖"和"丑"等形容词，以及提到人物的性别和肤色的词都被删除了。
While some changes have been made to books published in decades past, often with little fanfare, many of the current attempts to remove offensive language are systematic and have drawn intense public scrutiny.
过去几十年出版的书籍也有过一些修改，但一般不会大张旗鼓，而目前删除冒犯性语言的许多做法都是系统性的，并引起了公众的密切关注。
The effort has left publishers and literary estates grappling with how to preserve an author's original intent while ensuring that their work continues to resonate -- and sell.
这让出版商和文学遗产管理者想尽办法，在保留作者原意的同时，确保他们的作品继续引起共鸣--并卖得出去。
Finding the right balance is a delicate act: part business decision, part artful conjuring of the worldview of an author from another era in order to adapt it to the present.
正确的平衡点不易把握：既要做出商业决定，又要巧妙地唤起来自另一个时代的作家的世界观，从而使其适应当今时代。
"My great-grandmother would not have wanted to offend anyone," said James Prichard, Christie's great-grandson, and the chairman and chief executive of Agatha Christie Ltd. "I don't believe we need to leave what I would term offensive language in our books, because frankly all I care about is that people can enjoy Agatha Christie stories forever."
"我的曾祖母不会想去冒犯任何人。"克里斯蒂的曾孙、阿加莎·克里斯蒂有限公司的董事长兼首席执行官詹姆斯·普里查德说。"我不认为我们需要在书中保留我称之为冒犯性语言的内容，因为坦率地说，我只关心人们是否可以永远从阿加莎·克里斯蒂的故事中获得享受。"
The financial and cultural stakes of the exercise are enormous. Authors like Dahl, Christie and Fleming have, together, sold billions of copies of books, and their novels have spawned lucrative film franchises.
这一行动所涉及的经济和文化利益是巨大的。像达尔、克里斯蒂和弗莱明这样的作家总共卖出了数十亿册书，他们的小说衍生了利润丰厚的电影系列。
In 2021, Netflix bought the Roald Dahl Story Company, including rights for classics such as "The BFG," for a reported $1 billion.
2021年，网飞以据说是10亿美元的价格收购了罗尔德·达尔故事公司，其中包括《好心眼儿巨人》等经典作品的版权。
Leaving the works unchanged, with offensive and sometimes blatantly racist phrases throughout, could alienate new audiences and damage an author's reputation and legacy.
保持作品原封不动，保留其中有冒犯性的、甚至是赤裸裸的种族主义的语言，可能会让新的受众对其避而远之，并损害作家的声誉和遗产。
But altering a text carries its own risks.
但修改文本本身也有风险。
Critics say editing books posthumously is an affront to authors' creative autonomy and can amount to censorship, and that even a well intentioned effort to weed out bigotry can open the door to more pervasive changes.
批评人士说，在作者去世后对书籍进行编辑是对作者的创作自主权的侮辱，可以说相当于审查制度，即使是出于善意想要去除偏见，也可能为更大范围的改动打开大门。
"You want to think about the precedent that you're setting, and what would happen if someone of a different predisposition or ideology were to pick up the pen and start crossing things out," said Suzanne Nossel, the chief executive of PEN America.
"你要想一想你在开创什么先例，以及如果有不同思想倾向或意识形态的人开始拿起笔划掉一些内容，然后会发生什么。"美国笔会的首席执行官苏珊娜·诺塞尔说。
Changes could also remake the literary and historical record by deleting evidence of an author's racial and cultural prejudices, and eroding literature's ability to reflect the place and time in which it was created.
做出修改还可能重写文学和历史记录，因为反映作者的种族和文化偏见的证据被删去了，文学反映其所处时空的能力也受到了侵蚀。
"Sometimes the historical value is intimately intertwined with why something is offensive," Nossel said.
"有时候，历史价值与为什么有些东西是冒犯性的密切相关。"诺塞尔说。
